Article: Grading The 2025 Boston Red Sox: Catchers

[Nick John]

Much like the Boston Red Sox will be doing over the next few weeks in their internal evaluations, it's time to look back on the roster and see if players lived up to their expectations, exceeded them or fell flat. To start, we're going to look back upon the season the Boston Red Sox's catchers had in 2025.

Overall, it was a rather good season for Boston backstops, as the Red Sox's main catching tandem stayed mostly healthy throughout the season. They only had one stint on the injured list, when Connor Wong fractured his pinkie on April 8 against the Toronto Blue Jays. He would go on to miss nearly a month, but then backup Carlos Narváez stepped up and won the starting spot for himself. Despite that, the second half saw a falloff in production from Narváez as he dealt with his own minor injury.

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Carlos Narváez: B+

Narváez earns a B+ for his season due to the fact he completely shattered expectations, and if it weren't for an end-of-season slump that can be attributed to fatigue and a small injury, he would have easily earned an A.

Acquired from the Yankees the same day the Red Sox traded for Garrett Crochet, Narváez was viewed as a defensive-minded backup to Wong who was coming off an impressive (though very lucky) 2024 season. At the time of the trade, Narváez had just 15 plate appearances in the majors, and no one knew what to expect from him. In our TalkSox 2025 position analysis, we wrote the following about Narváez:

 “If his bat can be anything around league-average for a catcher, there's a chance he could even challenge Wong for the starting position by the end of the season”.

Well, he did just that (and had some luck with Wong getting injured). In the first half, Narváez hit .273/.347/.439 with 18 doubles, eight home runs, and 31 RBIs, as he would eventually be asked to serve as the team’s cleanup hitter for a portion of the season. The second half didn't go as well, however, as Narváez felt the fatigue of being a starting catcher during a playoff run as the team attempted to limit his innings behind the dish. In 45 second half games, Narváez hit just .187/.233/.387 and saw his OPS drop from .786 in the first half to .619. Along with that he hit nine doubles, seven home runs and 19 RBIs. What really proved that he was pressing at the plate was the fact he went from 30 walks in the first half to just eight in his final 45 games. Overall, he would hit .241/.306/.419 with a .726 OPS across 403 at-bats in his rookie season. Narvaez would also finish with 27 doubles, 15 home runs and 51 RBIs. He also had a fWAR of 2.7.

Defensively, Narváez did have some difficulty with catcher’s interferences, as he was called for it a few times. Luckily, he made up for it with a fielding percentage of .991 and by throwing out 32 runners. When it came to Fielding Run Value, Narváez was in the 95th percentile and was viewed as one of the better defensive catchers across the league.

Following the end of the season, Narváez had minor surgery to clean up his left knee, an issue he was dealing with since at least August.

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Connor Wong: D+

Whereas everything went right for Wong in 2024, you could almost make the argument that 2025 was the complete opposite. In 2024, Wong ended up being one of the luckiest hitters in the sport; his final slash line of .280/.333/.425 with an OPS of .758 went with 24 doubles, a triple, 13 home runs and 54 RBIs, despite all of his peripherals showing that it shouldn’t have happened. His expected batting average that season was .231 and his expected slugging was .355. Paired with near-bottom-of-the-league exit velocity numbers (86.5 mph), hard-hit rate (34.5%), and squared-up rate (21.3%), a regression was expected for Wong in 2025.

No one expected it to be this big, however. Wong began the season as the starting catcher but quickly lost it due to a fracture to his pinkie on his left hand after getting hit on the glove by a swing during an April 8 game against the Blue Jays. Wong would return May 2 but had already lost the starting spot to Narváez. He would play in 34 games in the first half, hitting just .149/.235/.149 with no extra base hits and just one RBI. His OPS during that span was .384. The second half didn’t get much better, as he would go on to hit .235/.292/.333 with an OPS of .625 in 29 games. In that same span, he had eight doubles and six RBIs—still not up to his 2024 production, but better than his first half.

His luck happened to get even worse when he came up with runners in scoring position. In 40 games where he had a chance to drive someone in from second or third base, Wong would go on to hit .061, just 3-for-49 with five walks. He would go on to strike out 17 times while also hitting into four double plays, ruining plenty of scoring opportunities

Wong did showcase some improvement elsewhere, as he cut back on his strikeout rate from 23.4% in 2024 to 22.3% in 2025, while his walk rate increased from 5.7% to 8.5%.

Defensively, Wong did improve slightly, going from a FRV of -14 all the way up to -3 in 2025. However, he only threw out nine baserunners and committed more errors (five compared to four) in less games played (61 to 106).

In fairness, a lot of Wong’s issues may have been due to injury. After returning from the fractured pinky, Wong did play slightly better in May in his small number of games. In 13 games, he would go on to hit .214/.290/.214, though without any extra-base hits. Then there was a chance he had played through part of the second half injured as well, as on October 9 it was revealed by MassLive’s Christopher Smith that he underwent a successful right hand carpal boss excision, making one wonder if he was dealing with that throughout the season.

Wong finished the year with a fWAR of -0.7.

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Ali Sánchez: C

There isn’t much to talk about regarding Sánchez. He was only with the team as an emergency third catcher when Narváez was originally dealing with his own health issues in early to mid-August and was designated for assignment just 10 days after joining Boston on August 18. In that span, he appeared in a single game with Boston, getting a single at-bat as a late-inning replacement in a game they were already losing.

Sánchez would return to Boston soon after, being acquired in an August 31 deal with the New York Mets after being signed by them to a minor league contract on August 23. Boston would add him to their September roster to serve as the emergency third catcher in order to allow Alex Cora to be aggressive with replacing either Narváez or Wong early in the game.

Sánchez would get into three games with Boston during his second stint with the team, again as a late-inning replacement each time, though he wouldn’t get into another game after September 13.

On September 21, Sánchez was once again DFA'd and was outrighted to Worcester on the September 23, where he stayed for the rest of the season in case he was needed for the playoffs. That wasn’t the case, and on October 6, he elected free agency.

Sánchez didn’t exactly due much during his two stints in Boston, but he filled his role as well as he could in his limited opportunities. A perfectly average grade for a perfectly average performance.

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Blake Sabol: F

Sabol, who was designated for assignment by the San Francisco Giants on January 11, was brought in to serve as catching depth alongside fellow catcher Seby Zavala. Unlike Zavala, however, Sabol did get brought up to the major league club and had some time in Boston following Wong’s injury. To say it was a good time would be a lie.

Sabol very much proved the scouting reports correct in that he was a first baseman/corner outfielder who plays catcher as his main position.

Sabol would get to play eight games with Boston, and was it a good thing when his time with the team ended. In that short stint, Sabol hit .125/.167/.188 with one double and one RBI. He struck out at a 38.9% rate and defensively he was even worse. Eleven baserunners attempted to steal on him... only one was thrown out. Along with that, in only 39 innings behind the dish, Sabol committed two errors.

Once Wong was ready to return, Sabol was optioned back to Worcester and remained there until being traded to the White Sox for cash on July 12, over a month after being designated for assignment on June 1.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, the team did not need to rely too on much catching depth thanks to the sustained health of Narváez and Wong. While the latter didn’t have a season anyone expected, the former was able to exceed expectations and help hold down the catcher’s spot in the lineup. The 2026 season will hopefully see both catchers reprise their roles and take a step forward in their development and help strengthen that position within the organization.

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[TedYazPapiMookie]

The loss of Teel is devastating from a catching perspective.  A retread in Narvaez and a career minor league skilled Wong puts Boston back in the position of seeking a long-term solution.  They drafted their answer then mistakenly traded him.  Maybe this time around they should sink some of Devers' money into a quality catcher that can work with the pitching coaches and Varitek to make catcher a strength rather than a weakness.

[moonslav59]

I think Narvaez is for real, and his defense alone makes him a plus.

Although an injury and fatigue took it's toll, only 9 catchers had more PAs as a catcher than Carlos.

Of the 15 catchers with 400+ PAs, only 9 had a higher OPS & wRC+. You have to set the PAs to 275 to get a sample size of 30 catchers (1 starter per team.) Only 12 of those 30 had a higher OPS than .732. 

For a rookie to place in the top 12-13 in most categories is pretty amazing and promising. He placed 12th if fWAR, too. Of course, the season could be an outlier, but I don't see any reason to think it was. He had decent power and OBPs in the minors, and he was known for good defense, all along.

I'm not sure Wong's offense is this bad, nor was it as good as 2024. He's most likely a .625 to .675 back-up catcher who showed improved defense and improved numbers with the results of the pitchers who he caught. I wouldn't mind a better back-up, but I think we have higher priorities.

Wong was basically Bello's Binky, and maybe it's no coincidence he had a major uptick from 2024 to 2025. Here are the OPS Against with Wong vs Narvaez and the sample sizes for each)

Bello

.643 w Wong (575 PAs)

.790 w Narvaez (125)

Crochet

.597 w Wong (126)

.620 w Crochet (688)

Buehler

.715 w Wong (95)

.845 w Narvaez (413)

Giolito

.614 w Wong (78)

,696 w Narvaez (535)

Dobbins

.709 w Narvaez (197)

.729 w Wong (59)

 

Whitlock

.528 w Narvaez (18)

.581 w Wong (101)

 

Weissert

.509 w Wong (92)

.729 w Narvaez (182)

Chapman

.319 w Wong (69)

.365 w Narvaez (147)

My Grades:

A- Narvaez

C- Wong

 

 

 

[mvp 78]

Wong was very lucky with the bat in '24 and unlucky in '25. He should go back to being a playable backup catcher next season as long as his defense looks like it did in '25. 

[Hugh2]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Wong was very lucky with the bat in '24 and unlucky in '25. He should go back to being a playable backup catcher next season as long as his defense looks like it did in '25. 

Maybe, I'm hopeful of just that.  Yet I'm still very concerned by the depth in the system.  What is Naraez? does he take a step forward or a step backwards?

The system is really feeling drop off from dealing away a guy like Teel, but......I'm certainly NOT going to complain about that one. 

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, Hugh2 said:

Maybe, I'm hopeful of just that.  Yet I'm still very concerned by the depth in the system.  What is Naraez? does he take a step forward or a step backwards?

The system is really feeling drop off from dealing away a guy like Teel, but......I'm certainly NOT going to complain about that one. 

The catching depth is pitiful. Johanfran Garcia was once promising, but is coming back from injury and there is worry that he won't stick behind the plate. Brooks Brannon played almost as many 1B/DH games as catcher last season. The other two top 60 prospects are Jorge Rodriguez (athletic FCL catcher) and Franklin Primera (DSL ASG MVP). None of these guys are close to helping. Years and years away most likely, even Johanfran. 

[Hugh2]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The catching depth is pitiful. Johanfran Garcia was once promising, but is coming back from injury and there is worry that he won't stick behind the plate. Brooks Brannon played almost as many 1B/DH games as catcher last season. The other two top 60 prospects are Jorge Rodriguez (athletic FCL catcher) and Franklin Primera (DSL ASG MVP). None of these guys are close to helping. Years and years away most likely, even Johanfran. 

While I certainly want to see more trades that are going to improve the big league club next season, I would certianly welcome a move that strengthens the catching depth at the top of the system. 

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

While I certainly want to see more trades that are going to improve the big league club next season, I would certianly welcome a move that strengthens the catching depth at the top of the system. 

Deal some of the Rule 5 guys or 40 man guys for prospects that could pop like Cam Booser for Yhoiker Fajardo. 

[Hugh2]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Deal some of the Rule 5 guys or 40 man guys for prospects that could pop like Cam Booser for Yhoiker Fajardo. 

I hope we see a deal like that every single year

[Hugh2]

They could get a kings ranson for Brennan Bernardino

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, Hugh2 said:

I hope we see a deal like that every single year

Schreiber for Sandlin

[mvp 78]

Just now, Hugh2 said:

They could get a kings ranson for Brennan Bernardino

Bye

[moonslav59]

I'm okay with the two catchers we have. Just sign a capable catcher to a minor league deal. Look what ole Hieneman did this year! Why can't we find catchers like that?

[Kimmi]

49 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm okay with the two catchers we have. Just sign a capable catcher to a minor league deal. Look what ole Hieneman did this year! Why can't we find catchers like that?

The only real concern regarding our catching position is the lack of depth.  I am more than fine with our duo of Narvaez and Wong, more because of the work that they do behind the plate than for their offense.  Even if Narvaez slips some offensively, I'll take him for the work that he does with the pitching staff.  Like you said, just sign a capable catcher to a minor league deal, and focus your attention on other areas of need.

[notin]

Order up - Dalton Rushing…

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Kimmi said:

The only real concern regarding our catching position is the lack of depth.  I am more than fine with our duo of Narvaez and Wong, more because of the work that they do behind the plate than for their offense.  Even if Narvaez slips some offensively, I'll take him for the work that he does with the pitching staff.  Like you said, just sign a capable catcher to a minor league deal, and focus your attention on other areas of need.

It would be nice to sign a 3rd catcher or trade for some minor league depth, but to me, we have too many other more pressing needs. I think Wong has an option left, so we could have him start in AAA, but we need 2 bats and a #2 SP'er most of all. We need 2 corner IF'ers and a 2Bman plus that pitcher before looking at upgrading the C position. I'm not even sure it's the 5th priority.